Twitter is ready to enable simple person-to-person money transfers—but only in France, in what will be a closely-watched experiment.

Groupe BPCE is partnering with Twitter on the service, enabled by its S-Money mobile payments unit, which is open to French residents whether they're customers of the bank or not.

Billed as "instant, free and secure," the partnership "offers Twitter users in France a new way to send each other money, irrespective of their bank and without having to enter the beneficiary's bank details, with a simple tweet," Nicolas Chatillon, chief executive of S-Money, BPCE's mobile payments unit, said in a statement.Continue reading...

Call it a "Conscious Uncoupling." Or more accurately, an "Icahn-scious Uncoupling." After months of lobbying by activist investor Carl Icahn, PayPal is splitting from parent eBay and will become a separate, publicly traded company next year.

In its announcement today, eBay said the board made the decision as the best path for growth and shareholder value creation for each business going forward—and already, eBay shares jumped more than 11 percent in pre-market trading.

In tandem with the news, Dan Schulman was named the new president of PayPal, joining the company from president of the enterprise growth group at American Express and previous roles at AT&T, Priceline and Virgin Mobile. eBay veteran Devin Wenig becomes CEO of the new eBay, replacing current president and CEO John Donahoe.

While the companies already operate fairly independently, the move will free each entity to grow and thrive—assuming all goes to plan—even though eBay stands to lose half its revenue as a result of the separation.Continue reading...

With the first reviews of Apple's new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus making their rounds, the discussions around what many have deemed the most lack-luster announcement—Apple Pay—are only getting louder.

While PayPal, Amazon and Google are all making hay of Apple's payment platform, other mobile wallet brands aren't sitting on their hands. Softcard, formerly known as Isis and backed by Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, just struck a major deal with Subway restaurants to launch NFC payments across the US. Consumers at any of Subway's 26,000 US locations can now tap their phone to pay for their order.

That won't be the case for consumers using Apple Pay, though, as Apple is restricting its NFC-enabled chip to only be compatible with the iPhone 6 iterations and Apple Watch. The company has also closed off access to its NFC technology to app developers, unlike Samsung's range of NFC-enabled devices that can make use of several NFC apps.

But while Apple Pay may be a bit restrictive, the upcoming platform is making competitors nervous about a potential Apple domination of the mobile wallet space.Continue reading...

Macy’s is making a bigger investment in omnichannel retail technology ahead of the major holiday shopping season by creating a more personalized and interactive shopping experience for consumers in-store, online and on mobile devices.

A pioneer in the implementation of RFID technology, Macy's will be rolling out shopBeacons to all of its locations across the US and will be expanding its partnership with Shopkick to drive consumer engagement in-store.

“Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s remain committed to operating at the forefront of innovation, as well as fostering a locally relevant shopping experience in every store,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Chairman and CEO of Macy's, in a press release. “We are a multi-faceted retailer with stores, technology, Internet capability and mobile access that come together for our customers. They are at the center of all our decisions, and our ongoing research and development will continue to help us understand how to personally engage with them.”Continue reading...

Ralph Lauren showcased his Spring 2015 collection, including his Polo line for women, with a water-screen projection above Manhattan’s Central Park, along with a film celebrating New York City. And while the theatrical display may have made the designs and the models wearing them secondary, RL's feat was an impressive entrant into a fashion celebration that has turned its attention to tech.

Elsewhere in New York, Samsung used its sponsored backstage lounge to showcase its latest mobile and wearable tech innovations, including the new Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note Edge and Gear VR, while Burberry created interactive billboards in New York, London and Paris that allowed smartphone users to see their initials inscribed on a digital bottle of the brand's new My Burberry perfume.

Today, at what seemed like its largest press event ever, Apple unveiled the future of communication—and it's beautiful.

CEO Tim Cook took the stage after countless brand fans and media kept their eye on a countdown clock on Apple's website, effortlessly building anticipation for a product launch that many have been counting on for the last year. And in true Apple fashion—minimalist introductory video and slideshow presentations, live demos and a parade of Apple executives not to mention U2—the brand introduced what everyone had been waiting for: two new iPhones, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus; a new payment platform, Apple Pay; and the highly-anticipated Apple Watch.

After years—decades, really, in tech time—of shunning the "bigger is better" trend in mobile, Apple unveiled not one, but two new iPhones, both of which offer a larger screen experience. But the two new phones turned out to be perhaps the least ground-breaking announcement of the day.Continue reading...

Twitter has dipped a big toe into e-commerce, launching a “Buy” button in the hopes of creating a new and robust revenue stream beyond advertising. The move follows a similar test by Facebook, and precedes what many expect to be an announcement from Apple today about a new mobile commerce platform.

The Buy button launched with an exclusive crop of brand partners, from musicians to retailers, including Eminem, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, GLAAD, RED, the Home Depot and Burberry.

Embedded in posts for a small number of Twitter users, the button gives access to limited-edition or time-sensitive products. According to Twitter's announcement, “This is an early step in our building functionality into Twitter to make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy, hopefully even fun."Continue reading...

In an instant-gratification world filled with consumers who, like Veruca Salt before them, want everything right this very second, major brands have engaged in a battle to be the fastest and most-efficient at bringing them whatever they desire.

But while Amazon, Google and Walmart have been duking it out for a while, smaller, and perhaps more nimble brands are set to disrupt the same-day delivery fray. The latest master of delivery (of both people and things) is Uber, which is currently testing a delivery service in Washington D.C.

The car-service app is testing a new service called Corner Store that "lets users request more than 100 common items like allergy medicine, diapers, toothpaste right through the app,” according to PC Magazine. In addition, to boost business, it has now allowed other apps, such as Starbucks, Hyatt, and United Airlines to add in an Uber button to their apps.Continue reading...